Milpitas businesses offer work for disabled students

by Aliyah Mohammed, Milpitas Post

Posted:
01/16/2014 11:45:24 AM PST

Updated:
01/16/2014 11:57:58 AM PST

James Sadeioa, 19, stands with his back toward the kitchen doors, as he concentrates on filling empty pepper shakers that he holds at eye-level near the hanging lights that glow in the interior of Milpitas' Dave & Buster's sportsbar.

He is one of three students performing the same task, under the patient gaze of their teacher, David Sorenson, 50, whose class of 10 students with severe disabilities are split into three small groups enacting different tasks at the Dave & Buster's, Burlington Coat Factory and Sears in the Great Mall on Monday morning.

Sorenson's students, along with fellow ACCESS post-secondary teacher Stephanie Bentzel's nine students, make up Milpitas Unified School District's ACCESS program. The program, created by Bentzel in 2011, aims to give students with severe disabilities access to opportunities to be independent.

When Bentzel came to the Milpitas in 2007, the district was looking to create an educational program for special education students, so she worked with them to start one, taking best practices from other districts' programs, to serve the students until they turn 22.

Only one student, Kevin Inmany, has graduated from the program so far, and he is currently looking for a job.

"Once they graduate from our program they can either get a job by themselves or with a job coach, or transition into an adult day program," Bentzel said. "I'm hoping that we have prepared them for their transition into adulthood.

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It is not the end of the road. We are kind of getting them ready for what they will have to do as an adult."

A student named Alex was hired by Orchard Supply Hardware recently, and has been doing tasks there since high school such as working in the nursery, cleaning the floors and bathrooms, and straightening and arranging the flowers.

The staff has been really helpful and supportive of working with Alex, Bentzel said. Also recently another student, Adriano, started getting paid for his work at Omega Restaurant.

The students are not typically paid.

Bentzel said they serve as an example of what the right amount of motivation and support, and pure determination can make happen, as part of a team effort between the families, the local businesses and teachers.

It was this characteristic of being a part of and engaging with all members of the community that led then-general manager of Dave & Buster's, Charlie Cook, to work with the students in the ACCESS program.

"Servers have never enjoyed rolling silverware and it gave the students the opportunity to go out and interact with the staff as they set up tables, fill sugar caddies and salt and pepper shakers," Cook said. "It allowed the students and teachers to be a part of what Dave & Buster's is and it made us feel more engaged with the members of the community.

It's a team effort and a win-win situation."

It is a great working relationship that newly transitioned General Manager David Fair hopes to continue.

"To me the best thing the teachers are doing is that is a repetitive process so it becomes second nature. First it has to be done correctly and then they need to build up speed so they are a great asset to the operations...teach them tasks and create a toolbox of stuff they are confident in so we can roll them into hourly positions for us when they open up," Fair said.

On Mondays, the group, supervised by Sorenson, replaces the black pepper in the pepper shakers, Tuesday the salt in the salt shakers, and on Wednesday they replace the sugar in the sugar caddies at Dave & Buster's. Then the groups separate and participate in social and recreational activities like going to Milpitas Public Library or Golfland.

Once Andrew Cheong, 18, and Nick Pham, 18, finish filling the pepper shakers, they pack up their things and head off to the food court to eat lunch with the other students. Sadeioa, on the other hand, has finished with his pepper shakers and is now portioning frozen shrimp into freezer bags, his glove-covered hands working quickly while he shakes his head from side-to-side with the music blaring from the sound system.

The 19 students go in small groups with Sorenson, Bentzel or their assistants to learn how to do a range of tasks to develop social and vocational skills at Dave & Buster's, Milpitas Food Pantry, Embassy Suites, Burlington Coat Factory, Mount Olive Church, Sears, Round Table Pizza, Walgreens, Marshalls, Safeway, Milpitas Sports Center, Orchard Supply and Omega Restaurant.

Some of the students go to the Embassy Suites to help wash, dry and fold linens, and also stock shampoo and conditioner in the caddies the maids will put in the rooms the next day, said Yolanda Garcia, executive house keeper at Embassy Suites.

"There are a lot of things in housekeeping they can do that are not dangerous," Garcia said.

Her only reservation about bringing the students over to the hotel was that they would not have enough to do, so she either finds something for them or has her staff not do something so the students have tasks to work on when they arrive.

"Now the other departments have been giving us stuff like napkins to fold and they (the students) get sent to the breakfast area to lay out tables and they have been really good...they are very eager to learn," Garcia said. "I think it's a really great program, and the teachers are really good with the kids. I wish I could be like that with my nephew who has autism."

The students, all above the age of 18 with some form of severe disability including autism or Down's syndrome, have either received a certificate of achievement or a graduation degree from Milpitas High School, and can voluntarily enroll in ACCESS until they turn 22. All the students are clients of San Andreas Regional Centers, which assume responsibility of the students when they turn 22. The ACCESS program fills the stop gap while teaching independent living skills.

The students learn vocational skills, in addition to learning how to use public transportation, how to grocery shop and cook, how to socialize in a work environment, and how to engage in recreational and social activities like bowling things that aren't taught in a classroom.

"I see the pride they take in the job they do and what we do in the class," Sorenson said. "I put them in charge and ask them what they want to do. We are very student-driven...and we try to teach them what they want to learn."

Sorenson said seeing the growth the students exhibit every once in a while makes his job worth it.

"We had one student who refused to speak when he first came into the program, but in the last year and a half he has really started talking," Sorenson said. "I enjoy all those little victories, especially because the most frustrating part for all the students is the lack of ability to communicate."

Bentzel agreed. "I think we take for granted the everyday things we can do, for these students with severe disabilities it takes them a lot longer to learn them...every little baby step counts. I have seen a lot of growth in these students and the stuff they are able to do now is amazing, just to see how far they have come."

Both Bentzel and Sorenson are appreciative of the businesses that have allowed them to bring the students in to get vocational training.

"For such a busy place, this really has a small town feel. The cashiers always know us and people have overall been really supportive," Bentzel said.

Contact Aliyah Mohammed at amohammed@themilpitaspost.com or 408-262-2454. Visit us on our social media sites at facebook.com/milpitaspost and twitter.com/milpitaspost.